X Fined in Australia for Failing to Prevent Child Abuse on Its Platform
X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter and owned by Elon Musk, has been fined by the Australian eSafety commission for not cooperating with a probe into its anti-child abuse practices.
The commission asked X to provide information about how it handles child sexual exploitation material on its platform, but X failed to answer some of the questions or left them blank. The regulator criticised X’s “empty talk” on the issue and said it had cut 80% of its workforce globally and had no public policy staff in Australia.
“X has shown a complete disregard for its obligations under Australian law and for the safety of Australian children,” said Julie Inman Grant, Australia’s eSafety commissioner.
The fine imposed on X is the first of its kind in Australia and the largest ever issued by the eSafety commission. It amounts to $610,500 Australian dollars, or about $386,000 U.S. dollars.
X has also faced complaints from users and advertisers about its content moderation policies and its disabling of a feature to report misinformation about elections. The platform has been accused of allowing hate speech, harassment, conspiracy theories and false information to spread on its service.
“We have been working with eSafety to address their concerns and have made significant progress in improving our systems to prevent child sexual abuse material from appearing on our service,” said a spokesperson for X.
However, the eSafety commissioner said that X’s response was inadequate and that it had not demonstrated any concrete actions to address the problem.
“This is not just about ticking boxes, this is about protecting children from horrific abuse that is then recorded, uploaded and shared online,” said Anne Ruston, Australia’s minister for families and social services.
The eSafety commission said that it had received more than 3,000 reports of child sexual abuse material on X in the past year, and that it had referred more than 1,000 cases to law enforcement agencies.
“X is a platform that has been used by child abusers to groom children, to share images of abuse, to livestream abuse. It is absolutely unacceptable that they are not taking this issue seriously,” said Angela Lynch, chief executive of Women’s Legal Service Queensland.
The eSafety commissioner said that she hoped that the fine would send a strong message to X and other social media platforms that they have a responsibility to protect their users from harm.
“We believe that X has a moral obligation to ensure that their platform is not used as a vehicle for harm, and we will continue to hold them accountable until they step up and do better,” said Inman Grant.
Relevant articles:
- Australia Fines Musk’s X Platform $386,000 Over Anti-Child Abuse Gaps, by Reuters, published on 10/15/2023
- Australia fines X for failing to crack down on child abuse content, by BBC News, published on 10/16/2023
- Platform X fined $610,500 over gaps in child abuse prevention, by ABC News, published on 10/16/2023
- X fined $610,500 in Australia first for failing to crack down on child sexual abuse material, by The Guardian, published on 10/16/2023
Originally published at https://trendydigests.com on October 16, 2023.
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